Last year was the world’s second warmest on record – even though it was Britain’s coldest since 1986.

Global temperatures averaged 14.5C, with only 1998 hotter since records began in 1850, the Met Office said.

Climate expert Bob Ward said: “Self-proclaimed ­sceptics may still claim global warming stopped in 1998, but they cannot explain away the fact that nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2000.”

Friends of the Earth said: “We cannot gamble with the future of the planet.”